The Dyslexic Letter Mage (One Shot)
by Torsa
Summary: It's not easy being a mage. Especially if you're a ten year old dyslexic letter mage, who has recently joined Fairy Tail. Cadwailade struggles finding her way in the guild, as her usual lifestyle of stealing doesn't apply anymore. (Random One shot that popped into my mind)
1. Chapter 1

**This is just something random that popped into my mind, after creating this oc. I like to make up ocs, but I struggle with writing good continuing stories. That's why, that this will most likely be just random one-shots of a very young guild member from fairy tail and all the mischief she will get into.**

 **Also some clarifications might be in order as this isn't a continous story. Cadwailade was taken in by fairy tail, shortly after the great magic tournament. She met Levy in Crocus and the letter mage is one of the closest persons to Cad, next to Natsu, Erza and Wendy.**

 **So that should be it. I hope you will enjoy it.**

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"I will not take Levy's Gale Forcing Reading Glasses without asking ever again. I will not take Levys Gale Forcing Reading Blasses withouth asking ever again. I will not…" Cadwailade Cadell was sitting at a table in the middle of the guild hall repeating the lines over and over again. She was miserable. How was she supposed to know that those glasses were so precious to Levy? The ten-year-old girl pouted and put down the pen to rest her hand a bit. Around her everyone was having fun and she was forced to sit at the table writing lines. As if that wasn't hard enough, her dyslexia really made her struggle with it. Asuka Conell, her partner in crime, was long done, even though she was a lot younger than her. She massaged her fingers, then picked up the pen again. "I will not take Levys Gale Forcing Reading Glasses without…"

"Stop!" Levy's voice interrupted Cadwailade struggles and the young girl gave a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into a pout once she realised why Levy had interrupted her work. "Cad, You made spelling mistakes here, here and here. And its "Gale Force Reading Glasses" not "Forcing"."

"Aw, Levy let me off the hook. I've been sitting here for almost two hours." She begged giving Levy her biggest puppy dog eyes. "I won't take them again. Cross my heart!"

Levy glanced over at her guildmembers who were still celebrating the end of the day. "Alright! But you have to correct your spelling mistakes!" The blue haired mage finally conceded.

"Thank you!" Cadwailade cheered. "I'll make sure that you won't regret it!"

"I sure hope so." The letter magician muttered under breath. She watched the ten-year-old hastily correct her mistakes. Every once in a while, the pen would wander to her mouth and she tap her lips thoughtfully before adding or crossing out another letter. The brown-haired girl always managed to tug at the heartstrings off her guildmembers, when she had managed to get herself in a world of trouble again. Her big blue eyes were just irresistible. Levy knew she shouldn't let her off so easy, but the kid had made an effort to sit still and write her lines despite it going against her nature.

"Done!" Cad announced and handed the paper proudly to Levy.

"Runt! You off the hook?" Gajeel's rough voice interrupted Levy's thoughts.

"Don't call me runt!" Cad yelled angrily, before adding, "Yes, I am." With a big smile. "Natsu! You promised me to help me practise my blocking spell."

"True!" The pink-haired wizard laughed and jumped to his feet. He cracked his knuckles and flames surrounded his hand. "Here it comes!" Cadwailade quickly raised her cane sword ready to unsheathe it and cast the rune, but a certain ice mage intercepted them before they could begin.

"Not inside the guild, you flame brained lizard!"

"You want a piece of me, you perverted popsicle?" Natsu shouted immediately turning his focus towards Gray.

"Knock it off!" One single glare from Erza was enough to settle them down. "My strawberry cake is to be delivered this afternoon. If anything happens to it, because of you two, it will be the last that you've ever done." She was sitting at the bar, but to reinforce her point a sword appeared in her hand.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Natsu grabbed Cadwailade by the scruff of her green tunic and walked towards the door. "Let's go short stuff. Erza's in a bad mod!" The kid wasn't particularly concerned about being treated this way. She knew Natsu didn't think any bad of it. The heels of her black boots thumped down the stairs and left two parallel skid marks on the ground until they've reached an open ground, where Natsu simply let go off her. She caught herself by taking a quick sidestep. "I've always thought it weird, that you picked Rune Magic, even though you're dyslexic." Natsu commented while walking a bit away from her.

"It's my strength!" Cad replied defensively. "At least that's what Master Makarov is saying."

Natsu just raised his fist and the flames flared up again. "Let's get started! I throw everything I got at you and you block. That's how you get stronger right?" He grinned.

Cad paled a bit at that. She knew Natsu was strong. She even envied him off his strength, though that was a fact she would never ever dream of telling him. He was already full of himself. "Maybe not full power?" She suggested with a nervous smile. "Remember? I'm still little." She readjusted her black sash and baggy pants, before pulling out her cane sword. It wasn't the heirloom she had gotten from her father, but a training sword she had received from Erza.

"Alright." Natsu conceded with a huff. "Tiny Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Rune Magic Shield!" Cad unsheathed her weapon in one smooth motion and aimed the tip at the incoming attack. With quick motions, she wrote the rune into the air. For a second it shone in a brilliant light, before it blocked the incoming fire attack, by dividing it into two streams. "IT WORKED!" She cheered, but then froze in shock as she saw Natsu prepare for the next attack, with broad grin on his face.

"Great. You can master small stuff, but how about this! Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!"

"Rune Magic: SHIELB!" She shrieked. The rune flared up in front of her, only the shrivelled to dust by the heat. In heartbeat, she flipped the blade around and aimed the flat side of it against the fire. A line of letters appeared. The attack hit the blade with full force. The letters flared up and Cad poured all her magic power in the rescue spell. Her training blade cracked with a metallic sound, but still held together. As sudden as the onslaught had started, it stopped again.

"Great job!" Natsu cheered. "You blocked it!"

"It wasn't me you idiot! It was Freed's extra spells, that saved me. You'd have grilled me! I wrote Shielb instead of Shield!" Cad shouted angrily. Her face was flushed and some brown strands of hair had gotten loose from her usual ponytail.

"Oh… why did you do that for?"

"I'm dyslexic, you crazy flame-spewer! I don't do it on purpose!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "And you broke my training weapon."

"Well… try bringing it to Gajeel. He might now how to fix it. He's an iron dragon slayer after all. He should know a lot about steel." He suggested feeling a bit bad for making her tear up.

She looked up at him, a bit of hope returning into her blue eyes. "I'll go and ask him straight away." Cad found Gajeel sitting together with some other mages at a table. Panther Lilly was also there. She skidded to a halt next to the table and stared at Gajeel until he sat down his mug on the table with an annoyed grunt.

"What's up half-pint?"

"Natsu broke my sword." She declared.

"So what?" He turned away from her and picked his drink back up again.

"Can you look at it. You're an iron dragon slayer. You surely know a lot about steel." Cad asked and pulled out her blade.

"Ugh… alright. Hand that rusty thing over." He grabbed it from her hands and inspected it closely. There were several distinct cracks running down the blade. Some lengthwise some diagonal. He sniffed at it. Then shrugged his shoulders. "This is scrap metal. Completely useless. One more strike and it'll shatter to pieces." He opened his mouth and took a bite shattering the whole sword.

Cadwailade who had just raised her hand to take her training weapon, froze in shock. She just stood at the table white as chalk. Her eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise. He was eating her sword. He was actually eating her sword. Right in front of her. "I'm sure Erza will give you a new one, runt." He bit off the last remaining piece, which stuck out from the handle and gave the wooden piece back to her. "There you go, short-stuff. I'm sure it'll fit nicely on your new training weapon."

That did it. A violent rage soared up in her and a low growl escaped her throat.

"I think you made a mistake, Gajeel." Nab whispered as he felt how Cad was getting surrounded by a very dark aura.

Gajeel huffed and grabbed a hold of his drink. "What she going to do? She's too little to hurt me!"

Cad whipped out her sheath and pointed it directly at the dragon slayer. "Rune Magic: Baldness!"

Gajeel spat out his drink and quickly ducked under the table. Even though it wouldn't hurt him, he still liked his black mane. The rune missed him, and headed straight towards the bar instead. It hit Erza square in the back, who was just about to dig into the freshly delivered strawberry cake. At first nothing seemed to happen. Cad was standing frozen on the spot, staring at Erza. As quick as her anger had surged up it had disappeared again.

A single strand of hair fell towards the floor. It was the opening of a floodgate. More and more hair started to fall. The whole of the Fairy Tale guild simply stared in shock. Natsu who had walked in right after Cadwailade went white, as did the rest of the guild once the rune had taken its full effect. Even worse, a lot of the hair had fallen onto the strawberry cake. Erza herself seemed to be frozen herself, but her hand was slowly closing hard around the fork she was holding. The metal creaked and Cad could see how the metal slowly bent under the crushing strength of Erza's grip.

Mirajane took a cautious step towards her guildmate. "Erza?"

The once redhaired mage spun around on her chair. In an instant, she was clad in a thick pitch black armour. Her eyes glowing red with rage. With the armour came a large black mace that had the same spike-like design as the Purgatory Armor. The mace was larger than Erza herself with six large spikes running down the edge, getting progressively larger as they reached the hook end of the weapon. Her gaze fixed the brown-haired girl, who uttered a tiny frightened squeak. Cad had no doubt that she would be snuffed out like a candle, once Erza reached her. Still she couldn't quite overcome the sight Erza was presenting. Even her eyebrows and eyelashes were gone. However, one single step from Erza towards her was all it took to snap her out of the comical aspect of the whole situation.

In her panicked state, she did the only reasonable thing she could think off. "Slip'n Slide!" She pointed the end of her sheath at Erza's feet. For once she didn't miscast her spell. Erza slipped, fell backward and slammed back first onto the bar, breaking a part of it and squashing the rest of her strawberry cake beneath her as well. Cad wanted to run, but she stood still. She felt like a rabbit frozen in fear right before a raging bear devours it with a single bite. Erza's head hung low when she got back up. Slowly her gaze once again fixed Cadwailade.

If the girl had thought Erza had been angry before, but she quickly corrected herself. She had never seen something like that. She couldn't even think of words which might be able to describe the expression on Erza's face. Her anger from before seemed like a tiny candle compared to the roaring volcano that was glowing in her eyes now. Cadwailade teeth were chattering and she raised her sheath to cast one last spell. Erza seemed to vanish then appeared right in front of Cad again. A single swing from the club shattered the sheath into tiny splinters. Cad stumbled backwards over her feet and found herself sitting on the floor. "I'm sorry!" She squeaked as Erza towered over her.

The redhaired mage bent down and grabbed a hold of the girl's ankles. "Prepare to face your punishment with dignity!" She growled, turning around she started to head for a side-door dragging the child with her.

"No! I don't want to face it with dignity! I want to live!" Cad howled and clawed frantically at the floor trying to escape her incoming doom. The door didn't provide any good grips, but Natsu's ankles did. "Save me!" She pleaded with tears in her eyes. "She's going to kill me!"

"Hell no! Let go of me! I'm not going to get involved in this!" Natsu shouted as he was dragged with Cadwailade towards the door. Erza didn't even seem to notice the extra weight.

The girl refused to let go. "You broke my sword. It's your fault! If you won't help me, you're going down with me!" She hollered. Natsu desperately tried to pry her fingers off his ankle. "How can you betray me this way? I thought you were my friend." Cad snivelled. "If she kills me I'm going to haunt you till the end of your live!"

"I'll take that risk, but I'm not going to get dragged into this." He retorted and doubled his efforts when he spotted that the door was getting dangerously close. One after one he pried Cadwailade's finger away from his ankle and finally he was free. Just in time as well, because Erza was just reaching for the doorknob.

"Don't abandon me like this, Natsu! You coward! Anyone! Help me!" Cad latched on to the doorframe, but it only delayed the unavoidable. No one in the guild came to her rescue. They only watched in horror as Erza bent down and almost gently removed Cadwailade's grip on the doorframe. Then the door was slammed shut right in front of Natsu's face.

All off the guild could hear a sword being unsheathed and the frantic, panicked babbling from Cadwailade. "Please, Erza! I'm sorry! I meant to hit Gajeel! Not you! I swear it! Cross my heart! I didn't do it on purpose! It was an accident! Nonono! I'll never do it again! NOOOOOOOOO!" The last scream was abruptly cut off, then there was only silence. The guildmembers of Fairy Tale stared at each other in shock. No sound could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Did she kill her?"

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 **That's it. Will Cad live for another day? What do you think Erza will do to Cadwailade? I'd love to hear your ideas.**


	2. Character Sheet

**No new chapter, just a character sheet I made for her. If someone wants to useher feel free to ask.**

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 **General:**

Name: Cadwailade Cadell (Short: Cad)

Nickname: Cad (She strives to be called the Runesmith, but she's too young to be recognised. Gajeel calls her "Runt, halfpint, midget")

Age: 10

Gender: female

 **Design:**

Hair: She's got dirty brown hair, which reaches down to her waist, but she always keeps it tightly tucked back in a ponytail, or wears it in a single long braid, which goes down her back as well.

Skin: quite fair

Face: She's got a slightly crooked nose, as it got broken once she practised magic on her own, before she joined the guild. Her eyebrows are of a slightly paler brown than her hair. Usually she sports a big grin, when she rips someone off in a game of dice.

Clothing: She usually wears baggy black pants, black ankle-high boots and a dark green tunic. Around the hip she wears a black sash in which she sometimes tucks her cane, when she sits down. She also wears a dark grey cloak with a big hood, which falls over her eyes. Before a fight she will always take it off. Inside the cane she's got a hidden blade tucked away inside it. Unsheathed it looks like a Chinese Jian, only without the handguard.

Formal clothes: A white tunic under a dark green dress, which reaches down to her ankles. She also wears black polished shoes.

Extra: She stands just under 4 feet, but she's got enough spunk to compensate. She's thin, and has slender shoulders, but you can see the outline of muscles below her skin. The first impression you get of her is that she's very fast. From the body-type she's built very much like Wendy Marvell. Her eyes are pale blue and they remind most people of ice.

 **Character**

Personality: She's very hot-tempered and never hesitates to give anyone a piece of her mind, if they do something she doesn't like. She's loudmouthed and doesn't allows someone to talk down her. She knows she's a beginner with magic and she's still got much to learn, but she's already able to use quite a few spells. She's confident, that she will once be a very strong member of the guild, but until then she's got a lot to learn.  
She's prone to train on her own and experiment with spells, which might backfire or she will simply miscast her spells, so she gets a different effect than she desired. As she uses rune magic (type of letter magic), she tries to very specific with her words, but as she suffers from a heavy case of dyslexia, she's prone to miscast her spells. If it happens she gets very embarrassed and she will get angry with whomever teases her about it. Most likely those persons will get whacked with her cane. However, her weakness is also her strength. Her spellcasting is complete and utter chaos, so you can never know what she will throw at you. More to that further down below.

In general she's a happy-go-lucky type of person. She regularly challenges people to play dice with her and they always loose, as she can hear how the dices fall. She doesn't always say the right numbers in order to get away with her cheating.

Once she's gotten to know somebody she will go great lengths for them.

Likes: She's very fond of playing dice and as she has practised this skill since she can sit, she can hear how the dice fall. She absolutely loves grilled meat. She's also very fond of training with Erza and Levy as she's very eager to improve her physical and magical skills. She likes to read, even though she's very slow. She also likes to gamble like I said above.

Dislikes: She hates people who think they're better than everyone else. Also she doesn't like strong liquors like whiskey, or people who drinks them. So she will try to keep such drinks out of reach from her guildmates. She also doesn't like being told of or getting reprimanded for doing things she isn't supposed to. (More to that in bad habits). Erza will most likely discipline her by karatechopping her in the head, while Levy will make her write lines. She absolutely hates both things.

Relations: She looks up to Erza and Levy as they often act as her teachers. Natsu is most like an older brother whom she adores and she envies his strength. As he and some other guildmembers often tease her about her miscasts she will sometimes be mad at them and sulk. She will also often tease them herself.

Friends: Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Makarov, Wendy, Asuka

Habits (Good/Bad): She gambles despite her young age. Also she tends to "borrow" things from her guildmates (Like Levy's reading glasses or her pen) without asking. As she is a really careless person, she will most likely forget to give them back or put them aside in her own room, as she might need it again later. With the pen she usually practises her own magic, as it helps her to channel the needed energy.

Backstory: She lived most of her life in Crocus and knows it like the palm of her hand. She has never met her mother, but lived with her father until she turned six. He had belonged to a small guild, which was destroyed during a fight with a rival. He never got over the loss and started drinking. Cadwailade was mostly on her own and didn't like sleeping at her house. She usually stayed in the streets and only went home if she was hungry. Because of the neglect she didn't go to school, but instead she gambled with other people on the street. There she picked up her skills with the dices. When she had turned eight she went home one evening only to see that her house had burnt down. She never found a trace of her father, but he's suspected to have died in the fire. The only thing she found in the ruins was the canesword in its sheath. She picked it up and returned to her usual street corner. There she was found by Levy, when the Fairy Tail guild participated in the great magic tournament. The mage took her in, as she felt pity for Cadwailade and she thought it funny, that she robbed Roy of his money in a game of dices.

Cadwailade first took advantage of Levy's trust ended up stealing Levy's money, but was caught by Jet and Droy when she tried to get out of Levy's room. They didn't suspect anything though, as they had simply come up to invite her for a big dinner. Cadwailade tried to talk her way out of it, but they ignored her and simply dragged the child with them. She was seated next to Levy and soon enough the kid broke down in tears as she regretted repaying such kindness with stealing Levy's money.

 **Guild**

Rank: Trainee

Guild: Fairy Tail

Guild mark (Color/Location): On her neck, dark blue

Team: She switches a lot. Usually she goes out on missions with Levy, very rarely she will accompany Erza.

 **Battle:**

Magic: Letter Magic (Runes)

Spells:

"Rune Magic Lightning": She inscribes the Rune lightning on her sword and charges it with lightning before attacking her opponents.

Miscast of Lightning:

Lighting: Instead of becoming full with electricity her weapon will start to glow like a torch.

"Rune Magic Lions Roar": She performs a swipe with her jian causing an extremely loud noise. It will distract her enemies and keep them from hearing anything else.

Miscasts of Lions Roar:

First Miscast: Lions Oar: She will summon an oar covered in carvings of different lions. In general both her opponent and she herself will be totally confused. Or she can simply grab it and try to whack her opponents with it.

Second Miscast: Loins Roar: Nothing happens.

Third Miscast: Lion Boar: She will summon a monster half lion half boar. The head and the front legs are those of a boar, while the back half is that of a lion. The Lion-Boar also has a lion's mane and many, many sharp teeth, besides his two large tusks. The beast is about the size of a large grizzly and very fast.

"Rune Magic Piercing Shot": She inscribes the runes on her sword, before making a swipe towards her opponent. The spell can even cut through stone.

Miscasts of piercing shot:

Piecing Shot: The spell shatters and explodes like a grenade right in front of her. She and bystanders will get injured.

Piercing Shit: It's a curse. If hit the target suffers severe stomach ache and diarrhea. For a full description just google "gummy bears review amazon christine torok". The spell will have the same effect as the gummy bears.

"Rune Magic Pin": She performs a swipe towards her opponent with her sword and they will be pinned to the object behind them.

Miscasts of Pin:

Rune Magic Pan: She will conjure a frying pan. She might throw it at her opponent.

Rune Magic Pen: She will conjure a pen. Again it might be used as a missile.

"Rune Magic Crushing Blow": She inscribes the runes on her sword and performs a swipe sending a crushing shockwave at her opponents.

Miscasts of Crushing Blow:

Cushing Blow: Nothing happens or her spell backfires disarming her.

Crushing Blew: A small gust of wind will hit her opponent. It might be able to make their hair move a bit, but nothing more.

Rune Magic Speed: She inscribes the rune for speed on her chest, to temporarily become faster

Miscasts of Speed:

Sped: No effects

Seed: She will conjure up a cloud of pollen. Might be helpful if her opponent has hay-fewer.

Rune Magic Brute Force: She inscribes the runes Brute Force on her chest to temporarily increase her strength.

Rute Force: It will sap her strength away, leaving her weak and defenceless.

Rune Magic Shield: She writes the rune for shield into the air to protect herself from attacks.

Miscast of Shield:

Shielb: Nothing happens

Rune Magic Flaming Weapons: She writes the runes on her sword. Each of her strikes will also deal fire damage.

Miscast of Flaming Weapons:

Laming Weapons: Instead of burning her opponents she paralyses them. There is also a chance that she gets paralysed herself.

Flaming Weabons: The spell backfires and she is engulfed in fire herself.

Rune Magic Flaming Shot: A combination between Piercing shot and flaming weapons. She shots a single fire projectile towards her enemy, when she performs a quick cut with her jian.

Miscast of Flaming Shot:

Laming Shot: She paralyses her enemy or herself. It's a fifty-fifty chance.

Rune Magic Flying Sword: She performs a wide cut with her swordbreaker and a flying slash will cut everything in front of her.

Miscasts of Flying Sword:

Lying Sword: Her opponent will feel only a soft tap.

Flying Sward (old term for grasslawn): She will cover her opponent in grass, but it won't do any harm to them.

She can also cast "Brute Force" and "Speed" on her comrades to boost them as well. Miscasts will have the same effect on them as well.

Strengths: She's chaos incarnate. You cannot prepare for a fight against her. Also she's extremely lucky, that not only comes in handy when she's in a fight, but also when she's gambling. Cadwailade is also training in hand to hand combat. She uses her jian in her right hand and the sheath in her left. She usually uses the sheath to parry and catch opponent's blades before trying to hit them with the sword.

Weaknesses: Her spellcasting is complete and utter chaos. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some spells will be extremely draining, not only the ones that backfire on her. The Lion-Boar as an example will consume almost all her magic power. Also she isn't very strong physically and in extreme stress situations she will most likely miscast her spells. An experienced mage will easily overpower her.

Dragon Slayer Type: Nope

Any Quotes: "Don't call me runt/halfpint/midget!" "Do you want to play a game of dices. You can even plug my ears if you want to."


	3. Second One Shot

**Second One-Shot about my little oc**

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The easy job had turned out much harder than she had expected. Cadwailade had been supposed to do a simple delivery. Take the signet from the family, walk across the mountain and hand it to the captain in the port of Cedar town. Very easy, especially since her contractors had even given her a pony. She had been promised additional money if she managed to deliver the signet within 3 days. Too bad that she had been attacked in a mountain pass. Oh, how she wished she had asked some of the older guildmembers to accompany her. But no, she had turned Freed's and Levy's offers down, since she had insisted that a ten-year-old was perfectly capable of delivering a signet by herself.

A gust of wind made her shudder. Her legs were hurting and her cloak had gotten badly torn when she had fallen down the cliff. Still… the fall had probably saved her life. She limped on, determined to deliver that damn signet. Her attackers had sure lost her tracks in these rocky hills. She grabbed the handle of her sword and the cold wood had the same effect on her as usual. Her fluttering nerves calmed down and she could feel her breathing ease. She would be able to see through this on her own. There was no need to panic. She was a member of Fairy Tail. Everyone would soon enough know her name and tremble in fear.

Suddenly the ground seemed to make a sudden jolt beneath her feet. She let out a very undignified yelp and landed harshly on her rump, causing tears shoot into her eyes. "Owowowow! That hurt! that hurt bad!" She whimpered rubbing her backside.

"Give up kid and hand us that signet!" A gruff voice commanded.

Anwyn looked up and soon spotted the man responsible for her fall. He was tall and broad. A mop of long brown hair surrounded his round face and an equally long brown beard reached hung down on his chest. In his large hands, he held a studded club that was bigger than Cadwailade herself. The girl gulped. As if the big man wasn't enough, there was another person standing right next to him, who seemed the exact opposite. He was lanky like a twig and his head was completely bald. His face was long and thin. Eyes tightly together, eyebrows almost touching, the longest nose she had ever seen, right above a tight-lipped mouth.

"We're the Stone-Brothers! My name is Balfour and this is my brother Baldur. Tremble in fear and prepare for your defeat!" The big guy announced them and they both struck something that was probably meant to be an intimidating pose.

"I'm Cadwailade the Runesmith from Fairy Tail!" Cadwailade replied with what she hoped to be a brave voice, trying to ignore the fact that her rump was still stinging something fierce. Slowly she stood up and straightened herself.

The bearded man seemed to ponder on that piece of information, before shrugging. "Never heard of you, runt."

A sweat dropped behind Cad's head. No one, no one ever seemed to recognize her name. It was just not fair. Everyone knew Natsu's, Gajeel's and Erza's aliases. But when she announced hers, no one recognized it. Gods, it was so hard being the smallest. "Well, I've never heard of you either!" She shouted angrily, and before she could stop herself another sentence slipped out. "You're just trying to be mean!"

"No, honestly. We have never heard of you. We know of Erza, Natsu, Gray, Laxus and the others though. They must be really strong." Balfour replied.

"Oh shut it!"

"We're getting off topic here." Baldur interrupted their squabbling. "We're here to get the signet, not to discuss names."

"Right." With that Balfour raised the club over his head and smashed it on the ground. A magic circle appeared at the place of impact. The ground started to shake and a wall of solid stone rose behind Cadwailade cutting off her way of retreat. The girl grabbed her sword and unsheathed it in one swift motion.

"Rune Magic: Flying Sword!" The rune flared up in front of her. Baldur was quick to evade it. The thin Stone-Brother jumped to the side, ducking under the sickle-like attack. Balfour was too slow. He raised his club to protect himself and an instant later he was covered in grass.

"What the hell!" He shouted, while Cadwailade flushed a bright red. A miscast. She had miscast her spell. She scanned the rune she had written and realized she had confused to vowels. She had written _Flying Sward_ and not _Flying Sword._ "That was on purpose!" She shouted, while the giant of a man started brushing off the grass. Baldur didn't pay any attention to his brother. Instead he unsheathed a thin rapier and aimed a wicked trust at Cad's chest. The girl parried it the last second. The impact of the weapons made her teeth rattle and her whole arm numbed. If the thin guy was that strong, she didn't want to try and block a blow from Balfour.

"Stone Make: Needles!" Baldur aimed his left hand at her and suddenly half a dozen sharp stone-needles sprouted out the ground. Cadwailade jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. Her cloak however got caught. Seeing his chance Baldur struck once again.

"Rune Magic: Shield!" The rune flared up in front of Cadwailade blocking the incoming rapier. The blade bounced off and severed the cloak instead. Now freed, the girl jumped back and ran along the rock wall looking for a chance to escape.

"Stone Make: Wall!" Another wall rose in front of her. She turned back and saw Balfour's smirk as his brother closed in for the kill.

Cadwailade raised her sword aiming the tip at Baldur. "Rune Magic: Piercing shot!" The rune flared up at the tip of her weapon. She aimed the bullet like attack directly at Baldur's stomach, but the stone-mage easily deflected it with his own blade.

"Now you die!" He closed the distance between them and raised his rapier.

"WAIT!" Cadwailade shrieked, reached inside her shirt and yanked out the signet. "There you go!" She held it up over her head, stopping the incoming attack, as Baldur obviously didn't want to break it. "Take it. It's not worth dying over."

Baldur laughed. "I knew it. A runt like you would never have the courage to stand up against the Stone-Brothers!" He reached for the signet. "Now be a good little girl and hand it over!"

It was that moment Cadwailade had waited for. She had only one chance. She needed to cast her rune in a way that would pin Baldur to his brother, rendering them unable to move. That way they were both out of the way for a few minutes and she could escape. With the hand, that was holding the signet, she drew a single sign. "Rune Magic: PIN!" The rune flared up in front of her then solidified into a freshly sharpened pencil which fell with a soft wooden clatter onto the rock between her and Baldur. Another miscast… She had once again confused two vowels. Instead of an i she had us e. Both her and Baldur were frozen in surprise. Then the stone-mage started to laugh. With a swift movement, he whacked the flat side of his rapier on Cadwailade's sword-hand, disarming her instantly. The girl yelped from the pain, but it was cut short, when Baldur rammed his knee in her stomach, knocking all the wind out of her.

"You little runt! Thinking you can trick me! You're lucky you miscast that spell!" He gave her a good kick in the side, causing her to cough violently gasping for air. Baldur bent down and reached for the signet. With an animal-like growl Cadwailade pulled it closer to her chest. She would not give the signet up so easily. Baldur grinned and gave her another kick for good measure. "Try it all you want. You will never be able to protect that signet. You're too weak." Instead of a reply Cadwailade reached for her sword. With an annoyed huff Baldur stepped on her arm, easily preventing her from reaching the weapon.

"Just take the signet. I'm hungry!" Balfour yawned and stretched his back. "This turned out to be even more boring than expected."

Baldur turned his head towards his brother. "Just give me another second. I want to teach this brat a lesson."

In that moment Cad suddenly rolled towards him, grabbed the pencil and stabbed him with all her might in the foot. Baldur fell backwards with a scream reaching for the pencil, which was stuck halfway in his right foot. Cadwailade crawled forward grabbed her sword and spun around. Balfour charged her with a deafening war-cry, club high over his shoulder. The girl raised her sword. She could almost hear Erza's calm instructions during their training session. _Wait for your chance to strike. An enraged enemy is an enemy half defeated._ Balfour raised his club and struck for her head. She ducked. The club missed her by an inch and she aimed a single thrust at his stomach. "Rune Magic: Piercing Shot." Her sword pierced through Balfour's shirt, but then hit solid steel. Hidden armour. Even with the help of her spell it didn't penetrate. Her spell _Piercing Shot_ hadn't worked. She dived past him, rolled over her shoulder and got back on her feet with ease. Now Balfour had his back towards the rock wall.

"What was that?" He laughed. "That spell didn't even hurt!" He pointed at the run still glowing at his stomach.

"I miscast it, you idiot!" She shouted, angry at herself that she had mixed up two vowels again. The old runes were just too similar. It wasn't her fault, after all she was dyslexic. But writing _Piercing Shit_ instead of _Piercing Shot_ was more embarrassing than her usual spelling mistakes.

Balfour grinned and raised his club again. "Stop dodging and I'll make this quick." Suddenly there was a strange gurgling sound. Balfour froze with eyes wide with surprise. "What is this?" Cadwailade didn't respond. She had no idea what she had done, but the rune seemed to take some effect at the man.

Again they all could hear a gurgling sound, much louder this time. Balfour hunched slightly pressing one hand against his stomach. "What did you do to me?" The gurgling sound got louder once again. A thin sheet of sweat covered Balfour's face and he dropped his club. Cadwailade slowly stepped back. Was he going to blow up? She sure didn't intend something like that to happen to him. Even if he had tried to clobber her in the head. It was then something escaped Balfour that sounded like the charging order for a whole cavalry regiment. The stone-mage whimpered, while clutching his lower abdomen. Baldur who had been trying to pull the pencil out of his foot collapsed next to his brother. Cadwailade couldn't help but grin. The rune had had a different effect than expected. "Ha! I told you that you shouldn't…" She stopped midsentence as the stench hit her. It was like a toxic wave. Cadwailade felt her whole body recoil in disgust. Balfour dropped to the ground. "What did you do to me?" The large man moaned, but Cadwailade had no intention of answering. She ran.

 **Two days later**

Erza found Cadwailade in one of the bigger inns. The girl had just received her payment and was happily digging into a grilled chicken. "On my way here, I found two members of a minor dark guild. One of them had a bandaged foot and the other was severely sick. Was that your work?"

"Yes." Anwyn chirped happily. Finally her name would gain some recognition as well.

"Were you hurt?" Erza asked eyeing the child in front of her closely.

"Nope! I managed well on my own."

"Then there's one thing I must address: We don't use any poisons, nor do we torture our opponents. You must answer to Makarov for your actions." She grabbed Cadwailade by her ear and dragged her out of the chair.

"I didn't use any poisons." Cad shrieked, grabbing her chicken in the last second. Erza immediately let go of her and the girl dropped on the ground. With a pout Cadwailade got back up on her feet rubbing her manhandled ear. "I miscast a spell. It somehow turned into a curse." She pulled a chicken leg of her dinner and sunk her teeth in it to avoid further questions.

"Hmmm… You really should keep working on that spell-casting on yours." Erza stated and watched the kid getting back up on its feet. "We should cut down on your sparring lessons and you should concentrate more on your rune magic."

Cadwail chewed and swallowed. "No way! I spend way too much time sitting around trying to learn those runes. I want to continue to spar."

Erza's eyes narrowed as she focused on the child in front of her. "You disagree with me?" She asked with a dangerously low voice.

Cadwailade paled. "No, ma'am." She squeaked. "You're perfectly right."

"That's more like it." Erza smiled and patted the girls head. "After all, you don't want your head shaved again, right?"

Cadwailade nodded sullenly. Her hair had still not regrown fully. It was only three inches long. Erza's mane however, had been restored to its former glory. The girl had no idea how the red-haired mage had managed to do that. It was a secret, that Erza hadn't revealed to her. She probably had asked Porlyusica. Cad didn't like that lady. Last time she had seen her she had gotten hit with a broom.

"Come along now. We're heading back!"

"Yes, ma'am." Cad nodded, knowing it was useless to protest. At least she was allowed to take her chicken with her.

* * *

 **Alright, that's it. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you have the time. I'd love to know how to improve my stories.**


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